Ms Swinson, who is married to her fellow Lib Dem MP Duncan Hames, spoke out earlier this year against what she described as “bizarre” rules banning MPs from bringing babies into the voting lobbies.

In an interview with the Independent on Sunday Ms Willott described how her two sons, aged three and one, attend a nursery in the Commons but that she tries to arrange her schedule so that she can join them in her Parliamentary office for their supper.

“I am not sure there's any point in having children if you then never see them,” she said.

“There are toys in there now, which there definitely weren't before.

“The problem is when there's a vote you're not expecting – my three-year-old is very good at holding on to my hand and running through the corridor.”

She has previously spoken of having to hand him “to the nearest MP” who had already been through the lobbies, so that she could go in to vote.

MPs voted in 2012 to end debates earlier in the evening to make the Commons more “family friendly”.

It followed the decision by David Cameron and Nick Clegg when the Coalition took power in 2010 to hold Cabinet meetings later in the morning so that they could help get their children to school.

The Coalition has also extended rights introduced by Labour to request flexible working, such as job sharing or having non-standard hours, from parents or those with caring responsibilities to all workers.

It comes on top of an overhaul of arrangements for new parents, allowing fathers a greater share of their partner’s maternity leave.

Small business groups have warned that the new rights would increase the burden on employers.

Ms Willott said that allowing all workers to request flexible hours – even for something like playing golf – would in turn make it easier for parents and carers to ask for flexible working.

“Opening it up to everybody will really get rid of the stigma with wanting to work flexibly,” she told the newspaper.

“So if somebody wants to go and play golf once a week or whatever … it makes it feel fairer and I think it starts changing the culture in an organisation.”

She also said political parties should consider extending free childcare offerings to parents with one year-olds to help women get back to work but acknowledged that there could be other competing priorities for public spending.

Currently parents of three-year-olds in England are entitled to claim 15 hours a week of free childcare, a right which is extended to those with two-year-olds in the most disadvantaged families.